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New york governor accused in vice ring

He was billed as a possible future president, a rising star in the Democratic party who made his name on the back of high-profile prosecutions against organised crime and corruption.

But last night Eliot Spitzer, the governor of the state of New York and self-styled Mr Clean, was facing calls to resign after he apologised on camera in the wake of an alleged link to a prostitution ring.

Spitzer delivered a short statement in Albany, the state capital, with his wife of 21 years Silda Wall Spitzer, standing silently by his side.

The governor did not refer to the allegations that he had employed the services of a high-class prostitute in Washington last month, but he did admit that in what he called a "private matter" that he had acted in a way that "violated my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right or wrong."

The news that the hard-man of New York politics - once known as the sheriff of Wall Street - had become embroiled in precisely the kind of ring for which he is famous for cracking caused astonishment across the state and beyond.

Minutes after the New York Times broke the news on its website, local television stations were clearing their schedules to focus on the story.

Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that Spitzer had been recorded through wire taps as he communicated with a high-end call-girl service, the Emperors Club VIP.

Detectives planted an undercover agent into the prostitution ring, and Spitzer, allegedly identified in court papers filed in a Manhattan court as Client 9, was tracked as he arranged a meeting with at least one woman in a Washington hotel.

The prostitution ring ran a website through which clients could see 50 prostitutes' bodies, with their heads hidden, and check against their hourly rates. The women were ranked using a diamond system: three diamonds cost $1,000 an hour, seven diamonds $5,500 or more.

Client 9 appeared to pay $2,600 for an appointment on the night of February 13 at the Washington Mayflower hotel.

It may not have been a one-off: the court documents refer to him saying to the organisers of the Emperors Club: "Yup, same as in the past," and paying a deposit against future liaisons.

Spitzer, aged 48, made his name during eight years as the state's attorney general, challenging the titans of Wall Street. He took on the former chief executive of the New York stock exchange, Dick Grasso, forcing him to resign in 2003 after Grasso accepted a pay package of $140m.

Spitzer also confronted the mob and organised crime, busting up at least two prostitution rings. After one such case in 2004, he said: "This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation. It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring."

By the time he won the election to state governor in 2006 with a landslide 69% of the vote he was being talked about as future president.

But within months of taking occupation of the governor's mansion, his administration started to stumble.

He displayed a stubbornness that strayed into excess. He once famously said to a Republican opponent: "Listen, I'm a fucking steamroller and I'll roll over you and anybody else."

His troubles deepened last summer when his aides admitted asking state police to spy on the top Republican in the state senate, Joe Bruno. The affair was dubbed by New York tabloids "Troopergate".

The attorney general - the position formerly held by Spitzer himself - launched an investigation, ultimately chastising the governor for tracking Bruno in an attempt to generate unsavoury media coverage of his rival.

Spitzer's next major decision, to offer drivers' licences to illegal immigrants, also turned sour when the US department of homeland security expressed alarm that the move could inadvertently aid terrorists.

The row caught Hillary Clinton in its crossfire when she first backed the idea but later tempered her support.

Four people have already been charged in relation to the Emperors Club ring. Under federal law, it is illegal to move people across states for the purpose of prostitution.

As details of the scandal reverberated around the country, questions were being asked about Spitzer's political future.

The Republican leader in the New York state assembly James Tedisco called for his immediate resignation. "He has disgraced his office and the entire state of New York," he said.

Spitzer refused to say whether he would stay in post, only that "I don't believe politics in the long run is about individuals ... But I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself."

About this article

New york governor accused in vice ring

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 19.56 EDT on Monday 10 March 2008.
It was last modified at 06.07 EDT on Tuesday 7 October 2014.
It was first published at 19.13 EDT on Monday 10 March 2008.